India outclassed New Zealand by an enormous 96 runs victory on Sunday in the final of the T20 World Cup to bag the title for the second consecutive edition and third time overall. The achievement held great personal meaning for the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, who became the first individual to have both played and coached a T20 World Cup-winning side, having helped India to lift the inaugural ICC Men’s T20 World Cup trophy in 2007.
Reflecting on the mantra of his T20I side after the final, Gambhir said: “The plan was very simple. I always believe that high risk, high reward is the only way to play a T20 format, and you don’t fear losing a game of cricket to win one.”
“If you start fearing defeat, you will never win. I told the captain that we will not play a match of 160-170. I would rather accept getting all out for 100 because scores of 150-160 take you nowhere,” he added.
Despite losing heavily to South Africa in an earlier match, India maintained their aggressive strategy as they entered into a must-win situation with successive matches with stronger teams. “So if you play high risk, that’s when you make 250 or 260 runs…….We lost a match against South Africa by 100 runs – but that ideology never changed. I never thought, that now let’s play a little subdued. Because after South Africa, all our matches were must-win matches. All were knockout matches. But despite that, if you play that kind of cricket, that’s when you give yourself the best chance to win big tournaments,” he said.
Gambhir also paid a great deal of credit to many individuals who played a key role in the success of Indian Cricket, dedicating the victory to former head coach Rahul Dravid and praising the role of VVS Laxman, who heads the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence.
Gambhir also reserved special praise for selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar, crediting him for consistently backing the team and management through challenging moments in the tournament.
“And last but not the least, I have to thank Jay Shah. When I went through the lowest moments in my tenure, he was the one who called me and trusted me with this job,” Gambhir said.